Chapter Ten – The Difference Is Night and Day

The heroes, Rebel, and Zimmer (in chains of course) were at the hideout. The mood wasn’t its normal cheerfulness, and with good reason. Iridessa and Rebel seemed to be the most affected. Iridessa kept having flashbacks to her own disruptive past. Umbra’s traumatic experience is pretty much her’s as well. Only difference is that she wasn’t RESPONSIBLE for the whole thing…  “So…” Artemisia said, trying to break the silence. “What happened? Iridessa, you seem to know what’s going on.” Spark followed, jumping to the chance to find out what was going on. Taking a deep breath, Iridessa replied, “Well… Let’s just say she’s had a hard past. For a matter of fact, BOTH of us have!” Rebel decided to add, “She WAS shaken up when I met her for the first time…”

Dashing down the road, a young girl searched for somewhere to hide. Seeing a nearby inn, she jumped for the door. Once inside, the girl relaxed. Living up to her name, Rebel laid low until the people from her orphanage left the town. Sighing in relief, Rebel took in her surroundings. She was in the general area of the building. Not many people were around, just the woman at the desk and another girl sitting by the fire. Joining the other girl, the runaway plops down and raises her hands to the flame. Trying to start a conversation, Rebel says, “Hey.” She nodded in recognition. Rebel noticed that this quiet girl seemed to be having a hard time. “The name’s Rebel.” the escapee continued. To her surprise, the girl answered, “I’m Umbra.” Tilting her head, Umbra asked, “Were those people after you?” Smirking mischieviously, Rebel nodded. Umbra smiled and questioned, “Do you have anywhere you plan on going?” Rebel thought quietly for a moment before answering, “Not really. I’m just going to see where the world takes me!” “That’s sounds like fun!” Umbra said eyes widening. “You wanna come?” the runaway requested. Umbra opened her mouth to reply before stopping, and cast her head downwards. “I’m heading for the mountains. I need to make sure I stay away from EVERYONE. This was going to be my last stop before I isolated myself…” “Why would you do that?” Rebel asked, confused by the other girl’s statement. Umbra replied solemnly, “I did something VERY bad.” Rebel leaned her head against the wall, stopping to think. Quietly, the sorrowful seven year-old got to her feet and approached the door. To her surprise, she felt a hand grab her arm. Turning around, Rebel faced her and said, “Look. I don’t know WHAT you did, but you seem to be quite the opposite of bad. Maybe you were just having a bad day. If you want, you can go and live the rest of your life in solitude. What I think you should do, however, is come with me.” Pausing to flash Umbra a mischievous smirk, she finished, “I have a feeling we can be quite the team.” Staring into the eyes of the person who would become her most trusted friend, the lost and lonely girl nodded, a matching smile growing on her face.

Walking along the road to the city, Umbra/Nox were, well, having a conversation. “Why are you making me do this?” The voice became deeper as Nox replied, “I’m not making you do anything! Why, this is only natural for you! Now come on, we must go.” Reluctantly, the dark one walked forward, powerful steps hitting the pavement.

There was a long silence amongst the heroes (and others). Everyone was trying to figure out a solution to the predicament at hand. At last, Crystal asked, “If she’s done this before, then what stopped her last time?” Iridessa quickly responded, “I did. I shot a beam of light at, well, Nox. That helped her take back control.” Then, solemnly, Rebel stated, “Then Iridessa, you’re our only hope.” All eyes fell on the light hero. A small seed of nervousness blossomed inside of Iridessa in that moment. Don’t worry Iridessa. I’ll be here to help…